I'd Rather be a Vampire
I'd Rather be a Vampire is the premiere episode of Survivor: Canary Islands - Blood vs. Water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nine motorboats, each carrying a loved one pair, sliced through the waters of the Canary Islands, towards a stretch of beach on the island of Lanzarote where Sulola stood by two mats. The castaways disembarked from the boats upon reaching shore, and were split up from their loved ones immediately upon arriving in the game. Sulola gave one tribe teal buffs, and told them their name was Riada, and gave the other tribe red buffs, and told them their name was Sangre. The castaways greeted their new tribemembers as the game began. (In the box below, castaways are above or below their loved ones. For example, the first members of both tribes, Soo Jung and Tae Min, are loved ones, so are Allen and Brenna, etc.) Before being given the maps to their camps, Sulola told them that they'd be competing in the first reward challenge of the season right away. Tribes had to select their best athlete and best mental player. Riada selected Roderick as their athlete, and Wilma as their brain. Sangre selected Jonny as their athlete, and Soo Jung as their brain. The athletes would have to swim a quarter mile out to sea to grab a bag of puzzle pieces, and bring them back to the brain, who would use the pieces to assemble a statue of their tribe sigil (a shark for Riada, a bat for Sangre). The first tribe to finish their statue would receive an extra bag of rice. Roderick and Jonny jumped into the water and began to swam. Roderick tore ahead of his competition, while his sister Liris restrained herself from cheering for him. Jonny struggled a little in the water; he still made good time but fell far behind Roderick. Roderick got back to shore a good thirty seconds before Jonny did, as his tribe screeched in happiness. Wilma set to work building the statue. Soo Jung was extremely intelligent, but she was just too far behind. Wilma finished her statue first; Riada had won reward! The tribes left the challenge area and hiked to their camps. Riada was overjoyed to have the extra bag of rice. Allen immediately took over as a leader figure in the camp, as he knew how to build things and how to light a fire without flint. By nightfall, the tribe had constructed most of their shelter, and Allen had conjured a fire without flint! The tribe celebrated their achievements wildly as they cooked up rice and water. Some basic relationships began to form on the tribe. Roderick and Allen got along very well, and Tae Min worked to become closer to the two powerful men on the tribe. Meanwhile, Carina and Araxie both weren't very fond of most of their tribe, and bonded over that, entertaining the idea of building a women's alliance since women had the majority on Riada. Overall, it was a bright first day for Riada. Day 1 for Sangre did not go as smoothly. Both Vince and Brandt had prepared to become leaders of sorts on the first day, and they warred over who would get the spot. The tribe was already fractured on the first day due to the ripples of conflict that passed through the tribe. Another person who wanted to lead, Liris, kept quiet about it however, and formed bonds with Soo Jung and Brenna while the men squabbled over power. The conflict led the tribe to be slow at doing things, and none of them knew how to light fire without flint. It was a cold and bleak first night for Sangre as they went to bed tired, hungry, and chilly. On Day 2, Riada's camp was even more lively. Carlota, Wilma, and Yara finished weaving the palm fronds so their shelter would be complete, while Allen led an expedition with Roderick, Araxie, and Tae Min to find food in the forest. Near midday, they found some fruit trees at the fringe of their camp, and brought back enough for each person to have their own piece. Things were calm enough, but scheming had already started. Araxie and Carina cornered Yara and Carlota as they were weaving palm fronds, and confronted them about an all women's alliance. They hesitantly agreed, as they didn't want to be rude. Meanwhile, Guy and Wilma both struggled to help around camp. Wilma wove the fronds but struggled to do much else, while Guy's obesity slowed him down and had him sleeping more than helping, leading the rest of the tribe to distance themselves from the two weaker members. On Sangre, Liris convinced the tribe to put aside their scheming for the day and collaborate on the shelter, because she knew that the sunny skies wouldn't last forever. The Sangre camp was much calmer as they spent the day completing their shelter so it was big enough for all of them and wouldn't be drenched if it rained, which would probably happen in the near future. But just because they worked together didn't mean all scheming died down. Jonny was very lazy despite being young and fit, and many castaways noted his lack of effort. Brandt and Vince both worked their hardest to prove they should lead the tribe, and Vince managed to do much more than Brandt and showed better skills. However, he was pretty aggravating with all his talk of leading, while Brandt was a little more manageable, if still cocky. On the morning of Day 3, the castaways found themselves trekking off to their first Immunity Challenge. Sulola met them in a sandy clearing with two big ramps, a balance beam, and then a suspended table maze. She revealed the season's Immunity Idol, a smooth wooden statue of a canary covered in beads and cowrie shells. All nine castaways would be chained together, and they'd have to cross the obstacles to get to the end. Then four people would maneuver the table puzzle to get a metal ball into the center. The first tribe to get their ball in the center would win Immunity! Both tribes had a few people who struggled on the obstacles; for Sangre, Edgar struggled on the beam and it took Sharrie a while to get up the second ramp. But they moved at a decent speed. Meanwhile, Riada was moving at a snail's pace; Wilma struggled to get up the ramps, and Guy was out of breath and couldn't cross the balance beam for the life of him. He eventually got over, but by the time Guy crossed the balance beam, Sangre was already halfway through the puzzle maze, with Liris, Brandt, Soo Jung, and Pasqual working it. Allen, Tae Min, Wilma, and Araxie worked hard to catch up, but they had lost too much time on the obstacle course, as Sangre soared to an easy win, earning the first Immunity of the season as well as flint! The Riada tribe returned to their camp, feeling defeated. However, a warm meal of rice and sitting by their fire got most of their spirits back up as they began to talk about Tribal Council. The targets everyone brought up were Wilma and Guy. Both had struggled in the challenge and had slowed the tribe down. However, many people gave Wilma a pass because she had won them their reward earlier and had proved her worth. It seemed as if Guy was the easy target, but Carina and Araxie knew they needed to take control of the tribe as quickly as possible. They approached the other women and Guy about voting off Allen since he was a strong competitor and was controlling the game. Guy and Wilma both seemed interesting, wanting to save themselves, but Yara and Carlota were hesitant. Yara leaked the conversation to Allen and warned him that he might be in trouble, and Allen attempted to do damage control. However, as the castaways left for Tribal Council, Carina seemed confident that her plan would work. At Tribal Council, Sulola questioned Allen about what the vote was about. He said they needed to be voting off people who were weakening the tribe, and not threats, to which Carina rolled her eyes and said that the game had already started, and that getting rid of the weakest wasn't always an effective strategy. Sulola asked Yara what she thought was going to happen tonight, and Yara replied, saying she wasn't sure what was going to happen tonight in all honesty. Guy said that he was worried that his display in the challenge might send him home, but he cracked some jokes that made the tribe laugh and said that there were bigger fish to fry despite him being the biggest castaway on the island. With that laugh, the castaways cast their votes. Sulola read the votes, drawing them one by one from the urn. Carina's plot was foiled as Guy was voted out 6-3, with the majority of the tribe voting out the weakest link, while Carina, Araxie, and Guy had voted to send Allen packing due to his prowess in the game. Guy's torch was snuffed, and he was officially the first boot of the season. Carina and Araxie looked pissed as they left the Tribal Council area. Guy's last words played as the episode concluded.